A twice-weekly syndicated newspaper column on California public affairs.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

HERE’S A MOVE TO LIMIT THE REVOLVING DOOR

CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016, OR THEREAFTER

BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“HERE’S A MOVE TO LIMIT THE
REVOLVING DOOR”

The revolving door in Sacramento is decisively alive and
well today, but there’s also a move afoot to crimp it at least a little.

Nancy McFadden, chief of staff for Gov. Jerry Brown, is not
the first to use the cycle that sends so-called “public servants” on a
continuous and connected path between lobbying and government, but her case is
the latest cause célèbre.

McFadden, an aide to Brown during the 1970s and early ‘80s,
also worked for ex-Gov. Gray Davis and a was Bill Clinton Administration
official in Washington, D.C., before going to work for Pacific Gas & Electric
Co. There, she soon became senior vice president and senior advisor to the
corporate chairman, representing the big utility in Sacramento.

After taking a $1.04 million “golden handshake” from
PG&E, she went back to work for Brown when he returned to the governor’s
office in 2010. She also held onto her PG&E shares and stock options for
more years after getting back into government. She’s a classic example of the
revolving door, especially since her agreement to take the big parting gift
from PG&E prohibited her doing anything detrimental to the company.

Then there’s former Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, a Democrat
who represented Fresno for five years before taking a lucrative Sacramento job
lobbying for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, better
known as PhRMA. That’s the main lobbying arm of drug companies often collectively
called Big Pharma.

And there are former state Sen. Michael Rubio of Shafter,
another Democrat, who moved to a job with Chevron Corp., and Bill Emmerson, a
sometime Republican state senator from Riverside County now with the California
Hospital Assn.

The ex-legislators play a different role than McFadden, who
sits in an extremely strategic place for helping her ex-employer. The former
lawmakers’ job is to influence their buddies and recent colleagues still
serving as legislators. It’s not as direct a role as McFadden can play, but
it’s still the revolving door. The ex-lawmakers must wait one year before they
can officially schmooze other legislators, but no one can prohibit them from
playing golf together or watching televised sports or hoisting a drink or two near
the state Capitol.

Until now, there’s been no move against this sort of thing,
which goes on even more frequently and flagrantly in Washington, D.C.

But now comes Republican state Sen. Andy Vidak of Hanford
with an effort to at least delay influence peddling a bit. Even though it might
be against the future financial interests of some of them, Democratic lawmakers
ought not to give this effort the automatic heave-ho often inflicted upon
GOP-sponsored bills in Sacramento.

Vidak, elected by a margin of almost 10 percent in a swing
district in 2014, proposes a ban on ex-legislators lobbying their former
co-workers and the governor until the end of the first legislative session
beginning after the lawmaker leaves office. For statewide officials like the
governor or secretary of state, he would extend an existing lobbying ban from
one year to two.

For Perea, this would have forbidden formal lobbying until
at least three years after his departure, as the first full legislative session
after his resignation starts next January and lasts two years. That might have
made him not quite as hot a property for Big Pharma, essentially adding two
years to his schmoozing moratorium.

This, said Vidak, could “discourage legislators from
leaving office in the middle of their terms to take a lucrative…job, which
often leads to a lucrative lobbying career.” He noted that special elections to
replace departing lawmakers cost counties many millions of dollars, “money that
would be better spent on critical local programs such as public safety,
transportation or health.”

Vidak notes that since term limits for legislators began in
1990, 58 special elections have been held for lawmakers who resigned in the midst
of their terms. Many left after winning higher office, but some became
lobbyists.

In terms of good government, there’s no question Vidak’s
bill represents improvement. But in terms of the financial futures of the
legislators who will vote it up or down, it’s a downer. Which means this is one
good idea not very likely to become reality, even though it should.

-30-
Email Thomas Elias at
tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, the Most Promising
Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It," is now
available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net

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About Me

Thomas Elias writes the syndicated California Focus column, appearing twice weekly in 88 newspapers around California, with circulation over 2.2 million.
He has won numerous awards from organizations like the National Headliners Club, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Los Angeles Press Club, and the California Taxpayers Association. He has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize in distinguished commentary.
Elias is the author of two books, "The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government's Campaign to Squelch It" (now in its third edition; also published in Japanese and recently optioned for a television movie) and "The Simpson Trial in Black and White," co-authored with the late Dennis Schatzman.